Alexei Navalny filed the lawsuit in connection with a preview of the documentary ‘The Browder Effect’, which Rossiya One channel aired on April 10 during the News of the Week prime time show

Alexei Navalny

MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Moscow City’s Savyolovsky district court is expected to consider on merits a defamation lawsuit the oppositionist blogger Alexei Navalny filed against the Deputy Director General of the state broadcasting company VGTRK, Dmitry Kiselyov, and reporter Yevgeny Popov.

The court postponed the hearings earlier at Popov’s request so that the latter man could sign an agreement with a lawyer.

Navalny filed the lawsuit in connection with a preview of the documentary ‘The Browder Effect’, which Rossiya One channel aired on April 10 during the News of the Week prime time show.

Yevgeny Popov is the author of the film, which claimed Navalny was drawing finance from the British intelligence services. Dmitry Kiselyov is the host of the highly popular analysis show.

Also, the documentary cited the documents and correspondence testifying to a possibility of a connection between Navalny and the highly controversial international investor, William Browder, the head of the Hermitage Capital foundation.

Navalny described the data as standing at variance with reality and marring his dignity and business reputation. The lawsuit does not contain any financial claims but the claimant did not rule out their possibility in the future.